Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski

Author:Heather Kaczynski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

WE HAD A couple more days of class at the same breakneck pace. I was pretty sure our instructors were intentionally ramping up the stress.

I was on my way back from breakfast with Mitsuko, mentally girding myself for another day of rapid-fire questions, when it happened.

Mitsuko hit the door first, hand trying the knob. It rattled uselessly in her palm. “Uh. Why the hell is our door locked?”

Nobody had keys. No one locked their doors.

I tried the one next to ours, which had been empty since the last cut. Nothing.

Mitsuko half groaned, half laughed. “Here we go again. What is it this time?”

All nine of us had been in the cafeteria for breakfast. As the others returned in ones and twos, they joined us in confusion. Every one of us was locked out of our rooms.

Once everyone recovered from their respective heart attacks, speculation abounded. Were we being moved, or were some of us going home? Was it another test? It had to be another test.

Ms. Krieger eventually came to get us. We followed her down the halls past the classrooms, far past any doors I’d ever had reason to enter, and through a set of double doors into a massive gymnasium, two stories tall and big enough for four basketball courts, though there were no hoops in sight. Sound seemed swallowed up in its vastness. Sunlight streamed onto the concrete floor from the high, narrow windows lining the far wall. I could see nothing but a thin strip of blue sky near the ceiling. I imagined that maybe they used this place to test drive Mars rovers or the moon buggy—set it all up with the proper environments, obstacle courses, the works—but right now it was repurposed for us.

Our fate, I surmised, had something to do with the large white pod in the middle of the room. It looked retro sci-fi, like all those digital renderings of future Mars habitats back when we thought we’d never get the money to do that. The dome was about twenty feet tall and not quite twice that around.

There was something like a submarine hatch at the end where we stood.

Ms. Krieger, the colonel, and Felix were there, along with a couple of techs in dark blue NASA flight suits.

Ms. Krieger spoke. “Welcome, everyone. This is the Simulated Living Habitat, based on actual models for use on Mars, albeit adapted for our use here. You’ll be staying here for one week. Once inside, you may not leave without also leaving the program.”

Nervous excitement fluttered in my chest.

“This is designed to simulate the actual experience you’d have living in cramped quarters with your crew members, only you’ll have the luxury of gravity. You’ll eat here, shower here, and use the toilet here for the next seven days. You’ll be constantly monitored, given a variety of tests, and we will be in communication regularly via the radio.”

Felix stepped forward, his expression carefully neutral. I could feel a tiny trickle of sweat drip down my sternum. “I don’t have to explain to you that this is meant as a stressor.

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